Lagurus is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 in the subfamily Arvicolinae

Arvicolinae

The Arvicolinae are a subfamily of rodents that includes the voles, lemmings, and muskrats. They are most closely related to the other subfamilies in the Cricetidae . Some authorities place the subfamily Arvicolinae in the family Muridae along with all other members of the superfamily Muroidea...

 (voles, lemmings, and related species). Together with the closely related Eolagurus

Eolagurus

Eolagurus is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae.It contains the following species:* Yellow Steppe Lemming * Przewalski's Steppe Lemming -References:...

, it forms the tribe Lagurini. Lagurus includes a single living species, the steppe lemming

Steppe Lemming

The steppe lemming or steppe vole is a small, plump, light grey rodent, similar in appearance to the Norway lemming but not in the same genus. The steppe lemming eats shoots and leaves and is more active at night though it is not strictly nocturnal. In the wild it is found in Russia and Ukraine...

 (Lagurus lagurus) of central Eurasia. The North American sagebrush vole

Sagebrush Vole

The Sagebrush Vole is a tiny vole found in western North America. This is the only member of genus Lemmiscus....

 (Lemmiscus curtatus) has also been included in Lagurus, but is likely not closely related. The earliest fossils of Lagurus, allocated to Lagurus arankae, appear in the Late Pliocene. Two other fossil species, Lagurus pannonicus and Lagurus transiens, are thought to be part of a lineage that led to the living steppe lemming.

Literature cited

• Chaline, J., Brunet-Lecomte, P., Montuire, S., Viriot, L. and Courant, F. 1999. Anatomy of the arvicoline radiation (Rodentia): palaeogeographical, palaeocological history and evolutionary data. Annales Zoologici Fennici 36:239–267.
• McKenna, M.C. and Bell, S.K. 1997. Classification of Mammals: Above the species level. New York: Columbia University Press, 631 pp. ISBN 978-0-231-11013-6
• Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0